lysa flower: : Page 14

Wildwood for Cloud9: A Warp & Weft Blog Hop and October’s Calendar

Lysa September 26, 2014 3

On the morning of August 20th an email arrived in my inbox. It was from Esmari, the founder, leader and wrangler of the Warp & Weft Sewing Society. In the email she excitedly told us an idea she had to showcase Elizabeth Olwen’s second Cloud9 fabric collection. Esmari went on to describe Elizabeth’s inspiration for the collection as having Fairy Tale folklore themes, with influences of the English countryside and woodlands. Her next question was if we’d be interested in making projects and doing another blog hop. It was a no brainer – you bet!!! I can’t reveal my project (I’m scheduled for Sunday the 28th. The whole schedule is posted below. Prepare to be blown away by these talented ladies!) however, I can reveal the fabric I used for my project. One problem; I excitedly made my project (and I’m quite thrilled with it!) but I forgot to photograph the fabric. Insert light-bulb moment! I thought I’d release the October calendar early. It showcases the fabric I received, Deco Petal in Navy and Wildflower in Crimson (um, I’m a tad bit in love with both!). I mixed it in with some of my vintage buttons (seemed fitting) and some lovely embroidery thread and pins from Esmari’s shop. You can download it HERE.

Esmari also had one last request, that we all move closer! And for this weekend I so wish I could. I’d happily move to Toronto for the Warp & Weft Weekend featuring a project with Sherri from “Thread Riding Hood!” Oh, they are going to have so much fun! There will be a pop up shop and trunk show running though out the weekend too!

Blog hop schedule:
September 26- Carla from “My 1/2 Dozen Daily”
September 27-Cynthia from “Cynthiaf”
September 28- Me
September 29-Cathy from “Blueberry Patch”
September 30-Esmari from “Warp and Weft”
October 1- Shannon from “The Finished Garment”
October 2-Hedi from “Elegance & Elephants”
October 3- Sherri from “Thread Riding Hood”

Hey Girlfriend: You’re Appreciated!!!

Lysa September 24, 2014 15

These were the first words I saw.

Hey Girlfriend! 2014

and

FVMQG Quilt for ME! 2014

There was a “Super Secret Surprise” in the agenda of our 4th year anniversary FVMQG party this September meeting. I’ve recently stepped down from the exec so I just assumed there was a workshop being announced or something. Then Cathy the president of the guild asked Cynthia and I to come up to the front. Um, okay. I think I sat there a bit stunned. Cathy explained to the group how 4 years ago Cynthia and I started the Fraser Valley Modern Quild Guild. Then out came two big bags with quilts in them. Cynthia’s quilt is on the left and mine is on the right.

I think I started to shake. It was very emotional and overwhelming. You see, I’m an introvert. Usually after our meetings or any gathering with more than two people I’m beat. The next day I do what I call turtling. I’m more than happy to spend a day or two by myself . I usually need and require this to recuperate, then I’m good to go. Which might be a bit weird since I’ve pretty much led every meeting since we started our guild 4 years ago and, I must add, it has always been my favourite job. I know, I’m a conundrum! Anyways I guess what I’m trying to say or explain is this is why I haven’t blogged about this yet. This was BIG! Capital B, capital I, capital G. This really meant a lot to me and it’s taken me a while to process it and honestly I’ve been savouring it. I’ve been looking at it everyday, looking at each star, reading the messages it’s a lot to take in. Needless to say, it’s very significant!

Prior to this I’ve only been given two quilts that have been handmade. Both were made by my Auntie Caryl. The first one she gave me was when I was 12. Needless to say I didn’t comprehend it’s significance. Later in my 20’s I sure did though but not at the moment it was given. The second quilt was given to us, again by my Auntie Caryl, after my first son was born, so I saw it as more his than mine (and being a baby he didn’t really comprehend it’s significance at the time either!). This same Auntie made my boys both their own quilts when they were a bit older and I think I did a good job of letting them know how special they were and what went into making them.

I was shocked at the wave of emotion I felt receiving this quilt. I have never, never felt the power of a whole group making a quilt before. Especially one that contained such sweet and loving messages. Isn’t that what we all really want, to be seen, to feel like what we’ve done has made a difference at least in some small way.

They put such thought into the fabric they selected, from the colours, to the fabric designs and they considered our preferences (in my case, there were a lot of polka dots). Isn’t that the other thing we all want? For someone to hear us to pay attention… and pay attention they did! I love my quilt and I love my guild! I’m so thankful for meeting Cynthia, I’m so glad we decided to start a guild, even though we hardly new each other at the time. I’ve learned so much from her I can’t even begin to tell you. I heart her!!! AND I’ve learned so much from the women in our guild too. Geeze Louise they know stuff!!! (BTW-we still have a position open for a token dude!)

This guild has given me so much, even beyond this quilt. I’m so grateful and honoured for knowing them and for the work they do so joyously! I heart them too!

FVMQG Quilt for ME! And it's so snugly!!!2014

The Grow Hope Foundation

Lysa September 10, 2014 2

Do you remember this pillow (and cat)?

Oh, sheesh, sorry. Dude! You’re in the way.

Yes you, skadattle!

Okay, there we go, I blogged about it back in March of 2013. I recently donated this pillow to The Grow Hope Foundation, spearheaded by Kimberly Taylor. I met Kim back in 2007 when we were invited over for dinner shortly before our husbands started working together. Kim was very warm and welcoming and the dinner was amazing. Their house was filled with heart felt family photos and I believe she had just started collecting her vintage cameras (a collection that now sits beautifully on their mantel). Just around that time Kim started a blog to show off her amazing photography including photos of her yummy food and life on her beautiful farm they have the cutest chicken coop!). Her blog was pretty pivotal in my life because it, along with a handful others, inspired me to start my own blog a few years later. Kim was a bona fide Martha Stewart and to be honest it was a little intimidating. However at that dinner, Kim and her husband were upstairs cleaning up dishes while we were all downstairs. I had walked upstairs to get something out of my bag and I must have been extra stealthy quiet because I caught her and her husband kissing… awkward, yes but it was adorable and I thought, I bet I’d never catch Martha Stewart doing that! Which made Kim seem very human to me. She was a wife and a mom, with a home to take care of. It was filled with her family, gardens and animals, all of which you could tell she loved very dearly.

It’s with this big heart that The Grow Hope Foundation came to be. The Grow Hope Foundation, in partner ship with the Sustainable Community Education Program (SCEP), have been helping building communities in Uganda. They’re helping by showing people in the community how to build new latrines, teaching the importance of sanitisation (washing hands after using the washroom and before eating). They are currently working on building a learning compound where locals will have the opportunity to learn how they can improve their lives through, sanitation, hygiene, nutrition and skills training. Their next big goal is to put in a well, so they don’t have to trek off to pick up water everyday but instead put their energy into planing gardens to feed their families.

We we were visiting Kim and her family last weekend she showed me the jewellery that the women of this community make. She told me they get together twice a week for an hour or so and make these beads. They roll them and shellac them, let them dry in the sun and string them. They are so finely made. I’ve seen paper rolled beads before but none like these. As Kim said to me, “It’s the women, they are the ones that really get me” and I have to agree with her. When I saw the beads I just couldn’t help but think, this was probably made by a woman that was born the same year as me, she might even have two boys of her own. She gets together with her friends and makes things just like me. Then Kim told me that all the ladies wanted for their time and all the jewellery they’ve made was two chickens each. Two, just two. Not money, two chickens. They figured there are roosters around and if they get chicks they can raise them for meat. In the mean time at least they would have the eggs to feed their family… big breath, push back tears, I’m all farklempt now… so as you can imagine I’m quite honoured to have been asked by Kim to partake in her auction to raise proceeds for The Grow Hope Foundation. I’ll keep you posted about it but in the meantime if you are interested in donating or learning more about this amazing project you can do so here.

Thanks so much and especially for popping by!

September-Warp & Wefts 2014 Calendar!

Lysa September 1, 2014 0

In my humble opinion, September is the month that gets a raw deal in most calendars. I know this because I’ve always skipped ahead in calendars to check out September’s picture. Why would I do that? It’s my birthday month. You do it for your birthday month too, don’t you?! September always gets the busy looking trees, with all the changing colours of the season. Yes, the changing leaves are pretty but I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s predictable (wink, wink, see what I did there, limb, ha!), which is why I chose one of my favourite designers (Melody Miller) for this month’s calendar (and really haven’t we all been ga-ga over the much anticipated Cotton + Steel collection!). I pre-ordered mine through Warp & Weft and bought some down in Oregon, at Modern Domestic, when I was there this summer.

Feel free to download this non-leafy September Calendar here.

…and yes, as I stood back and looked at my finished calendar, I realized it is a little Cowboys and Indians… but at least they’re not autumn leaves!

Fab Bee Quilt

Lysa August 24, 2014 6

This quilt was made for my oldest son with the help of the Fab Bee members (Cynthia Frenette, Holly Broadland, Barb Mortell, Darlene Barnes, Ellen Lewis, Berene Campbell, Bea Rocco, Sherri Chalke, Amy Dame, Barbara Macleod and Christoper Mair). I’m so grateful and thrilled with the results!

on IMG_1069
Because this quilt was so large, it’s 90″x 96″, I decided to take it to a longarm quilter. I was surprised by the wonderful sense of relief I felt dropping it off . Unfortunately, I was also surprised by the dreadful feeling I felt picking it up. I ended up reworking a lot of the quilt. Perhaps I should have gone back and said, I’m really not happy with this. However, when I saw the quilt all I wanted to do was get out of the shop as fast as possible and fix it myself. Which is what I did. I spent the better part of a day quilting and adding a heavier thread in random spots. I love it now. In hindsight if I were to ever have someone longarm one of my quilts I’d do up a sample to show them what I wanted instead of explaining it. I think what it came down to, the longarm quilter and I weren’t on the same wave length. Lesson learned.

stitches IMG_1067
My son hasn’t been one of those teenagers who’s been dying to shed all of his boyhood stuff. I’ve offered a couple of times to make him a quilt to replace the one I made him when he was 8 but he would always say, “why, I’ve got one.” Even when I told him, “you know you’re getting to a point where your friends might ask, “Dude what’s with the baby quilt?”, he ‘d just shrugged his shoulders like, oh well. So I made this one just in case he changed his mind. Okay, confession time, I totally didn’t tell him I was making him a new quilt. He caught me ironing it on his bed . “Um, what are you doing?” I think he was slightly terrified that ironing beds was a thing, especially after I had just insisted he learned how to clean a toilet. It wasn’t the Monster Hunter quilt with the teeny tiny pieces he’d been hoping for but it wasn’t rejected either. And good news, ironing beds is not a thing, unless you’re taking pretty pictures to show on your blog, or you work for House and Home taking interior shots.

Before:

After:

front IMG_1165

Now,why trees, you ask? I’m a huge fan of Gig posters. One of my all time favourite posters is by Strawberry Luna for the band Spoon . When November 2012 rolled around it was my turn to be the queen bee. I sent out a picture of the poster for inspiration, instructions (a fill in the blank letter, for when I do other bees) and, of course, fabric. Each person was asked to make a brown or teal tree. Basically they made long strips, which made for an efficient way to piece a quilt top. Then lastly, I sewed up a sample block, posted photos, sat back and waited for my sewn up trees to come back to me in the mail.

Fab bee blocks

Skip ahead to March 2013, before this quilt landed on my sons bed it was displayed at the Creative Stitches show in Abbotsford. Oh, did I mention, when doing the extra quilting, Mr Aurfill himself liked my photo of it on Instragram!

Sig IMG_1133

When I made my son’s first quilt I was thinking of the little boy he was at the time. This time around I wanted to think of who he will be and make a quilt that will grow with him… and one that won’t embarrass him when chicks come around. What, wait? Did I just say that?